US orders airstrikes in Syria against ISIS groups. But why?

US airstrikes Syria

The US has gone ahead with a series of airstrikes on October 11th against what is being reported as “ISIS” groups in Syria, although the logic behind the attacks is unclear or the reasons disingenuous.

According to Reuters and other agencies, the strikes will “will disrupt the extremists from conducting attacks in the region and beyond”, the US Central Command is claimed to have explained.

About 900 US troops are in eastern Syria alongside the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces – which is predominately PKK – that were instrumental in the fight against ISIS militants.

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In Syria, ISIS is broadly divided into two groups – those who fight against US and its allies (like those fighting the SDF) and others who have worked with the US as allies in fighting Iran, Syrian and Hezbollah groups.

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These strikes undoubtedly helped the Kurds but the timing is odd leading some analysts to speculate that President Biden wanted to remind all groups in Syria and Iraq of America’s air superiority – ahead of feared retaliation strikes by Iran in the event of Israel bombing its infrastructure.

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While it is true that attacks by ISIS sleeper cells in Iraq and Syria have been on the rise over the past years, with scores of people killed or wounded, the real threat in the region will come from Iran and its proxies who are enemies of ISIS.

ISIS seized territory at the height of its power and declared a caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, but was defeated in Iraq in 2017. In March 2019, the extremists lost the last sliver of land they once controlled in eastern Syria.

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Last month, Iraq’s military said that Iraqi forces and American troops killed a senior ISIS commander who was wanted by the United States, as well as several other prominent militants.

The move actually came just before Hezbollah launched a successful drone attack on a military base near Haifa, killing at least 4 IDF soldiers and wounding around 70, which prompted Biden to order THAAD anti missile systems to be send to Israel with around 100 US servicemen to operate them.

Agencies

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